Audi Q3 Sportback and RS 7 Sportback to lead new product onslaught

Audi has moved out of the doldrums, propelled by a force 10 gale of upcoming new models.

The storm is building slowly, starting with the new Audi A6 45 TFSI sedan reaching customers in October, priced from $95,500.

That car is followed by the new Audi Q3, which is due to arrive in Australia from November.

From next year the local rollout of Audi product will pick up the pace, with the Audi Q3 Sportback that made its debut at the Frankfurt motor show this week arriving in March.

Initially, there'll be just one variant, the Audi Q3 Sportback 35 TFSI. This is a turbocharged 1.5-litre front-wheel drive model, which may or may not feature mild-hybrid technology developed for the car.

A few months later, the Q3 Sportback range will expand with at least one quattro model, according to Shaun Cleary, Corporate Communications Manager for Audi Australia.

Either or both of the quattro models, the Q3 Sportback 40 TFSI or 45 TFSI, will launch within a few months of the entry-level front-drive variant. Both these cars will be powered by turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder engines in differing states of tune.

Confirmation of either of these cars for Australia will be decided by “price and specification” and “where we think the car should be positioned,” Cleary says. It's a matter that's “broader” than currency exchange rate fluctuations.

Pricing for the Audi Q3 Sportback is yet to be announced, but is expected to start from the low-$50,000 range for the Q3 Sportback 35 TFSI – representing roughly a $5000 premium over equivalent-specification of the mainstream Q3 on which the Sportback is based.

In other markets, the Audi Q3 Sportback is offered in 40 TDI form (a diesel variant), but that particular variant is up in the air for the local market, at present.

“We're not saying we're not taking it, but we're concentrating on the petrol models,” Cleary says.

Other new models on the way here include the Audi A6 Allroad, which is due in April, the Audi SQ8, around the same time, plus facelifts of the Audi A4, A5 and Q7 – all due in the first half of 2020.

Pricing for the new Audi RS7 Sportback would be in the approximate $250,000-$260,000 ballpark when the new RS 7 arrives in Australia around mid-2020.

The A6 Allroad will be the entry-level 45 TDI model, priced somewhere between $115,000 and $120,000, it's believed.

Audi has already confirmed the S6 and S7 for Australia, but the petrol variants, not the exotic diesel variants with the electric compressor.

Vehicles that carsales has driven in the days leading up to the Frankfurt motor show, including the Audi SQ2 and SQ5 TDI are on Audi Australia's wishlist, but not yet confirmed.

The importer is hoping for a 2020 launch for these two SUVs, but admits that they may not get here before 2021.

According to Cleary, finding production capacity for an Australian-spec SQ5 TDI is the current stumbling block for that particular model.

The Audi SQ2 offers “huge potential”, Cleary says, with the local importer “working with Germany to bring it to Australia at an asking price under $70,000.

“We've definitely had interest in it since it was first revealed in February this year,” Cleary says.

The Audi SQ5 TDI is likely to cross the $100,000 threshold, at a price premium slightly above the petrol SQ5, which is priced at $99,900.